Ailing police chief has minor setback

The Genoa Police Chief may be nursing a broken ankle a little longer than he expected.

Chief Robert Bratton slipped outside of the police station Dec. 28 and broke his right ankle.

He thought rehabilitation had progressing been well until a new twist developed. On Jan. 24, doctors at St. Charles Hospital returned him to the operating room after noting some irregularities during checkups.

“The doctor told me, ‘I really don’t like the way this is settling in,’’ the chief recalled.

Now, Bratton has to keep all weight off his leg. And the next two weeks are critical in the wellness cycle, he said.

“It’s driving me crazy,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “I have to stay off it completely. I can’t have any pressure on it.”

He heads back Feb. 7 for X-rays. Doctors will determine then what the next step will be.

“He told me it would be a long trip to get me back to the walking stage,” Bratton said.

Bratton, who had a heart attack a couple of years ago followed by triple-bypass surgery, said the ankle injury seems agonizing in comparison.

“When I went through the heart attack, I was in the hospital and then there was a week of physical therapy. I could move around. This is going to lay me up quite a bit longer,” Bratton said.

He keeps in constant contact with Mayor Mark Williams, the village administration, as well as members of the safety committee.

As for the members of his police force, “They are doing a hell of a job keeping the place running well,” the chief said.

Bratton speaks daily with the officer in charge, Sgt. Todd Mocniak, and can’t help sending off a text message or to two other in between working on reports at home on his computer.

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